Waldorf Largo

[chk071]

I don't think you can filter by category. It's a bit strange as there are categories, but, they seem to have no effect when searching. At least I haven't found any way.

[chk071]

Agree to disagree! It's super lush, analog-sounding and probably the best sounding VA I've heard, but it's really easy for it to sound klang-y and metallic. It also sounds like it has this low-frequency bump and mid-frequency presence, so it's a very punchy, present and digital sounding synth

so its analog-sounding AND digital sounding? I was expecting gorgeous warmth and organic presence* but it sounds very sharp and in your face which would be great for EDM rather than old fashioned synth music.

It's a digital synth. But, you can definitely do some nice typical VA sounds with it as well. It can be quite lush and warm as well. Try some multisaw pads with some filtering.

[Aloysius]

Picked this up for $29 at the weekend. Sounds good on first review but wish the GUI was scalable and the preset browser by type doesn’t seem to function?

If you type in ''bass'' and hit ''enter'' (windows) it will highlight all the ''bass'' presets in a particular bank. It's a bit weird.

[felis]

I'd like to see some work done on Largo. Parts of it seem unfinished. Seeing that it's been sold though, I don't know how likely that is.

[skyscape]

Lovely synth, but the interface is definitely showing its age. It really highlights some of the quality of life improvements that more modern instruments seem to be standardising like drag and drop modulation. I find the preset management system quite awful and there are some strange design decisions like the lack of volume control for the layers and some useful modulation targets missing. But overall it definitely has character.

[KBSoundSmith]

Picked this up for $29 at the weekend. Sounds good on first review but wish the GUI was scalable and the preset browser by type doesn’t seem to function?

It works. Here's a quick rundown of how it works. I'm doing this from the perspective of creating a bank, but simply searching for presets is included.

1) Select the Category Tab to see which Categories are included in the current bank.

Largo_FileTut00.png

2) Select an empty/init preset slot, which we will rename to demonstrate functionality.

Largo_FileTut01.png

3) Click on the Category Tab and enter in the custom name of a new category type. Here, I change "Init" to the new type "Test"

Largo_FileTut02.png

Largo_FileTut03.png

4) Next, change the name of the preset, using whatever convention you prefer. For ease of navigation, I like to include the Category Type as the first four characters of a preset name.

Largo_FileTut04.png

5) After you've changed the preset name, click on the Category Tab again. You'll see that "Test" is now an available option.

Largo_FileTut05.png

6) Now, to use the search functionality. First, select a random preset to see how the next stage works (I randomly clicked on a new Init preset). Now, go to the search bar in the upper right of the preset panel and enter in "test" for the category type to be searched, and press Enter.

Largo_FileTut06.png

Largo_FileTut07.png

You'll see that anything not labeled under category type "Test" is darkened, and only category type "Test" will be highlighted. Obviously, you can create any category type you want. And if you are using someone else's bank, simply look at the category tab to see what can be searched. If you are making your own bank, you can of course click the Edit tab and sort by the desired parameter to get the presets to display in the order you prefer.

[KBSoundSmith]

Lovely synth, but the interface is definitely showing its age. It really highlights some of the quality of life improvements that more modern instruments seem to be standardising like drag and drop modulation. I find the preset management system quite awful and there are some strange design decisions like the lack of volume control for the layers and some useful modulation targets missing. But overall it definitely has character.

Each layer does have a volume control.

Largo_FileTut08.png

Which modulation targets do you consider to be missing, out of curiosity?

As for the preset management system, it is a touch archaic, but if you spend a little time with it, it becomes easy to navigate. But I agree, this is an area where Largo does show its age a bit. Hopefully my last post clears some of the issues up with it, though.

[VELLTONE MUSIC]

Still haven't explore it deeply,but today after 5 minutes experiments,just to taste it,would say Largo is easy to love synth
Easy to addict to these amazing filters,waveforms are interesting,only thing i still don't like is fx section and mod matrix is bit old school,but 4 parts make it real monster on pads,plucks so on when need few layers,definitely will spend time on it later.Cheers Largo brothers

[lotus2035]

The browser is a mess and needs an update.

[Shiek927]

Agree to disagree! It's super lush, analog-sounding and probably the best sounding VA I've heard, but it's really easy for it to sound klang-y and metallic. It also sounds like it has this low-frequency bump and mid-frequency presence, so it's a very punchy, present and digital sounding synth

so its analog-sounding AND digital sounding? I was expecting gorgeous warmth and organic presence* but it sounds very sharp and in your face which would be great for EDM rather than old fashioned synth music.

*like Frank Zappa said, writing about music is like dancing about architecture. The same goes for describing the sound of virtual synths

It can do both! that's the thing! it's incredibly flexible because it can do razor-sharp techno and EDM sounds, but can definitely do warmth if you wanna go that way. Here's a really recent soundset that shows just that ().

[chk071]

Q and microQ are some of the warmest digital synths I've ever heard (judging from sound demos here). Beefy, airy, juicy and just pleasant sounding. Give that "warm" feeling in the stomach.

[ramseysounds]

Picked this up for $29 at the weekend. Sounds good on first review but wish the GUI was scalable and the preset browser by type doesn’t seem to function?

It works......

Really appreciate the fantastically detailed reply, but if I click on say 'Arp' presets, I would expect all arps to be displayed just like in most other synths. Shouldn't have to be renaming or recreating banks. Please don't for one second think I'm not being appreciative of you taking the time to present a detailed work around

[ramseysounds]

Picked this up for $29 at the weekend. Sounds good on first review but wish the GUI was scalable and the preset browser by type doesn’t seem to function?

If you type in ''bass'' and hit ''enter'' (windows) it will highlight all the ''bass'' presets in a particular bank. It's a bit weird.

Gotcha. thank you.

[Shiek927]

Q and microQ are some of the warmest digital synths I've ever heard (judging from sound demos here). Beefy, airy, juicy and just pleasant sounding. Give that "warm" feeling in the stomach.

A pretty good description and I'd say the same towards the Roland JD800 and other choice picks from that era. The idea that virtual analog synths are only capable of "thin, cold, clinical" sounds just isn't true. If anything, some of them are so warm that they embody the best of both worlds at delivering both warm and cold sounds which make more flexible than a purely analog synth. Trust me that if the sound demos sound good to you, it doesn't beat having your headphones plugged in directly to the jack and listening to them straight out. Youtube and Soundcloud demos don't do justice to the richness your ears will get

[Shiek927]

double post